Draft rigging



March 10,1959 H, wiNTHER 2,876,911

' DRAFT RIGGING Filed Oct. 15, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2

Inventor: Howard Winther Bywwm his Attorney H. WINTHER DRAFT RIGGING March 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 15, 1956 I nve nto r:

Howard Winther his Attorney United States Pa m A DRAFT RIGGING Howard Winther, East Aurora, N. Y., assignor to The Symington-Gould Corporation, Depew, N. Y., a corporation of Maryland Application October 15, 1956, Serial No. 615,938

3 Claims. (Cl. 213-66) This invention relates generally to draft rigging and more particularly to an improved yoke and front follower for use with a twin cushion draft gear and a coupler dirlfctly connected for relative universal movement to the yo e.

With the adoption by many railroads of so-called trailer-on-flatcar or piggybac ing truck trailers on flatcars, there has sprung up a demand for fiatcars of sufficient length to accommodate at least two large trailers. In response to this demand, it is now contemplated to build fiatcars of an over-all length of about eighty feet. It was proposed to equip such cars with A. A. R. Alternate Standard Type F couplers and twin cushion rubber draft gears such as the Waugh-Mat Twin Cushion rubber gear, using the present A. A. R. approved Y-37 yokes. While such equipment, in general, would be satisfactory for the proposed cars despite their long distance between truck centers and overhang (656 and 7'4, respectively), calculations have shown the permissive range of horizontal angling of the couplers to be insufficient when two coupled cars attempted to negotiate the sharp radius curves in a freight yard. As a consequence, consideration has been given to the use of the A. A. R. Alternate Standard Type E swivel shank couplerwhich, while not possessing some of the advantageous characteristics inherent in an F coupler, would provide the necessaryadditional angling.

The primary object of the present invention'is to provide an improved yoke and associated front follower for use with a twin cushion draft gear and Type F coupler which will increase the extent of angling of the coupler suificiently for extra long flatcars so equipped to negotiate curves both in and outside of freight yards.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved yoke for use with a twin cushion draft gear and a pivotally connected coupler wherein, while the front bridge and adjacent portions of the yoke are made narrow relative to the corresponding parts of the present Y-37 yoke for increased permissive horizontal angling of the coupler, the loss in strength which normally would attend such narrowing is avoided by the particular configuration of the bridge.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in the detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the improved yoke and front follower of the present invention applied to a twin cushion draft gear and universally angling coupler, with portions shown in a section taken along the lines 11 of Figure 2,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the structure of Figure 1 with portions shown in a section taken along the lines 22 of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view-on an enlarged scale of the yoke and associated front follower of Figure l, with parts of the draft rigging removed and shown in service for transportsection to more clearly illustrate certain of the details of construction.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improved yoke of the present invention, designated as 1, as illustrated, is pivotally connected by a pivot pin 2 to an A. A. R. Alternate Standard Type F coupler 3, the latter being resiliently supported by a resilient coupler carrier 4 pocketed in the usual manner in a striking cast ing 5 conventional for that type of coupler. The illustrated coupler 3 is entirely conventional, having the usual interlocking head 6 and a butt 7 formed centrally with a spherically convex surface 8 and at either side with cylindrical shoulders 9, the former interfitting with a spherically concave socket 10 on the front face 11 of the bridge or front web 12 of the yoke 1 and the shoulders being adapted to engage limiting surfaces 13 on the bridge 12 at either side of the socket 10.

The yoke 1 extends into a draft gear pocket 14 between the center sills 15 and, between its rear wall 16 and forwardly extending vertically or transversely spaced straps or arms 17, contains the front cushion 18 of a twin cushion draft gear 19, such as the A. A. R. approved Waugh-Mat Twin-Cushion Type WM-4-6 rubber gear, the rear cushion 20 of the draft gear being interposed in the usual manner between the rear wall 16 of the yoke and a rear follower 21 which reacts against rear stop lugs 22. Between the bridge 12 of the yoke 1 and the front cushioning unit 18 is interposed a front follower 23 having a pair of forwardly extending legs or lugs 24, one at either side and normally engaging at their front ends the front stop lugs 25, the legs 24 being connected by a transverse wall 26 having a substantially flat rear face 27 bearing against the front end of the front cushioning unit 18. As is usual in such installations, the front face 28 of the front follower 23 is spaced rearwardly of the rear or confronting face 29 of the bridge 12 so as to ensure that the front follower 23, as well as the rear follower 21, will normally be urged against their respective stop lugs and thus eliminate any slack in the draft gear.

On comparison of the illustrated draft rigging with a conventional installation of a Type F coupler and a twin cushion draft gear, it will be perceived that they differ in certain respects. For one, the arms 17 intermediate their ends and the bridge 12 are narrower than the present A. A. R. standard Y-37 yoke. For another, the bridge 12, while at the center of the same thickness as that of the conventional yoke, is thickened or bulged toward either side so that its rear face 29 in horizontal section is arcuately concave. Additionally, the front face 28 of the front follower 23 in plan or horizontal section is arcuately convex, substantially conforming in curvature to the confronting rear face of the bridge. As will be noted from Figure 3, in which the relative positions of the yoke, front follower and coupler are shown in solid line when the coupler is in normal or centered position and in dot-and-dash line when the coupler under draft is angled at maximum in one horizontal direction, the reduction in thickness of the bridge 12 and adjoining portions of the arms 17 of the yoke 1, alone, would afford the desired increase in maximum angling over the conventional installation by providing additional spacing at the sides between the yoke and both the front stop lugs 25 and the legs 24 of the front follower 23. However, this apparently simple solution to the problem had to be discarded because of the attendant weakening of the yoke and the inability, due to longitudinal space limitations, to thicken the bridge to compensate for its reduction in width.

The bridge 12 and front follower 23 of the present in a .3 vention solve the above problem by narrowing the bridge 12 and adjoining portions of'the arms 17 to the extent required and bulging or thickening the bridge rearwardly toward either side, as at 30 so that the rear face 29 of the bridge in horizontal section is arcuatelyv concave intermediate the maximum projection of the bulges 39, 'To accommodate the rearwardly bulged sides of the bridge at the maximum angling shown in Figure 3 and at the same time maintain the normal longitudinal spacing between the bridge and the front follower 23, the transverse wall 26 of the latter, while of conventional thickness at its center, is thinned toward either side by making its front face 28 arcuately convex in horizontal section with its curvature corresponding to that of theiconfronting face 29 of the bridge. So constructed, the frontfollower,

by virtue of the ,archingof its transverse wall 26, .is of adequate strength to sustain the maximum loads to which it is subjected under draft forces.

[From the above detailed description, it will be apparent that there has been provided an improved yoke and associated front follower for use with a twin cushion draft gear and coupler pivotally connected for universal angling to the yoke, whereby the increase in maximum horizontal angling necessary for cars of extra length is afforded without detriment to the strength of the component parts. It should be understood thatthe described and disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to be included which do not depart from either the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a draft rigging including a yoke having a pair of transversely spaced longitudinally extending arms con- .nected at their rear ends by a transverse web and intermediate their ends by a bridge, a front follower normally spaced rearwardly of said bridge and interposed between said bridge and a cushioning unit pocketed in said yoke, and a coupler pivotally connected to saidtarms and having a butt interfitting for relative universalangling with a front face of said bridge, the improvement for narrow- ,ing said bridge and the adjacent portions of said arms to increase the maximum horizontal angling of said coupler,

comprising said bridge being thickened towards either side so that the rear face of the bridge is arcuately concavein horizontal section, and a transverse wall of said front follower being thickened towards .either side to present a front face arcuately convex in horizontal section and-normally spaced from and substantially corresponding-'incurvature 'to the confronting rear wall of said bridge.

2. In a draft rigging, the combination with a twin cushion draft gear and a universally angling coupler, of a yoke having a pair of transversely spaced longitudinally extending arms connected at itheir rear ends by a web and intermediate their ends by a bridge and pocketing a front cushioning unit of said draft gear between said arms, web and bridge, said yoke being pivotally connected to said coupler forwardly of said. bridge and socketing a butt of said coupler in a front face .of said bridge, said bridge .and adjoining portions of said arms being narrow relative to the spacing between associated partsof the draft rigging by "which said bridge and portions are laterally confined, said bridge having a rear face bulged rearwardly towards either side and arcuately concave in horizontal section, and a front follower normally spaced rearwardly of said bridge and interposed therebetween and said front cushioning unit, said front followerhaving a pair of forwardly extending legs normally engaging front stop lugs and intermediate said legs having a front face arcuately convex in horizontal section and corresponding in curvature to said confronting rear face of said bridge. 7

3. Ina draft rigging, the combination with a twin cushion draft gear and a universally angling coupler, of a yoke having a pair of transversely spaced longitudinally extending arms connected at their rear ends by a web and intermediate their ends by a bridge and pocketing a front cushioning unit of said draft gear between said arms, web and bridge, said yoke being pivotally connected to said coupler forwardly of said bridge and having a front face thereof interfitting for relative universal angling with a butt of said coupler, said bridge andadjoining portions of said arms being narrow relative-to the spacing between associated parts of the draft rigging by which said bridge and portions are laterally confined, and said bridge being bulged rearwardly toward either side and having a rear face arcuately concave in horizontal section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED, STATES PATENTS 2,186,267 Page. JaIL' 9, 1-940 

